{"id":2022,"date":"2016-09-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-13T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/blog\/catalyzing-mastery-based-learning-nycs-mastery-collaborative\/"},"modified":"2019-12-16T12:55:09","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T17:55:09","slug":"catalyzing-mastery-based-learning-nycs-mastery-collaborative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/blog\/catalyzing-mastery-based-learning-nycs-mastery-collaborative\/","title":{"rendered":"Catalyzing Mastery-Based Learning: NYC\u2019s Mastery Collaborative"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"masterycollaborative-768x574\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This post\u00a0first appeared on CompetencyWorks<\/a>\u00a0on July 19, 2016.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

This is the second post of my Mastering Mastery-Based Learning in NYC tour. Start with the first post on\u00a0NYC Big Takeaways<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

How does a huge district open the door to mastery-based learning when the rest of the district is focused on other areas of improvement and innovation?<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

New York City Department of Education created the\u00a0Mastery Collaborative<\/a>\u00a0to support schools that were ready to take on the new frontier of mastery-based learning. The Department\u2019s policy for school autonomy has formed a strong foundation; however, schools need support as well. Led by an extraordinary group \u2013 Jeremy Kraushar, Joy Nolan, and Julianna C. Brown \u2013 the Mastery Collaborative is building a network of leader-educators, a knowledge hub, and a shared vision of what mastery-based learning can be in NYC.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpeed round\u201d conversations at a Mastery Collaborative meeting allow school leaders, teachers, and students from participating schools to \u201ccross-pollinate\u201d effective ideas, practices, and experiences about mastery. In the above photo, Justin, a 7th grader from Brooklyn, talks to Joaquin Vega, principal of Bronx International High School, about how students feel the impact of mastery-based grading.<\/p>\n

The Collaborative is made up of forty schools: eight Living Lab schools and thirty-two Active Member schools (a list is at the bottom of this post with links to the articles written about the schools CompetencyWorks has visited). The Living Lab schools provide visitors with a chance to see what mastery-based schools look like and to talk to other educators who are experienced at working in a schoolwide mastery system. Living Lab schools also post resources in a shared wiki page so others can quickly look at different options regarding grading practices, design of competencies, or school policies. The Mastery Collaborative team works with the schools to set goals aligned to a shared community framework, learn from one another, and develop overall guidance documents. For example, they have developed a tool to evaluate LMS systems to expedite the process for schools to consider different products. They are in the process of working with DOE Central\u2019s Office of Academic Policy to offer PD that will help schools develop fair, transparent, and comprehensive mastery-based grading policies and messaging for teachers, students, and parents.<\/p>\n

Some of the schools in the Mastery Collaborative sought waivers through the\u00a0PROSE<\/a>\u00a0initiative, a joint effort of the UFT and the Department that has offered opportunities for schools to become mastery-based. However, most of the practices within mastery-based schools do not require waivers.<\/span><\/p>\n

A Volunteer Strategy<\/b><\/h3>\n

\u201cOur goal is to create a strategy where more and more schools want to turn to mastery-based learning,\u201d explained Jeremy Kraushar. \u201cWe know that a compliance strategy will not work, so we are building a volunteer strategy.\u201d So far it is working: the number of schools have doubled over the past year. Leadership from other parts of the district are coming to meetings to learn more about mastery-based learning and to consider what they can be doing to support it.<\/p>\n

One of the Collaborative\u2019s strategies is to form strong relationships with the divisions within the Department of Education that oversee the policies related to mastery-based learning. Brown explained, \u201cAny time there is innovation, schools are going to butt up against the system. For example, grading policy can limit asynchronicity, in which students may be working on different performance levels or units at different times.\u201d Thus, the Mastery Collaborative team has built bridges with the Office of Academic Policy to explore what is allowable or isn\u2019t regarding grading, as well as to begin to shape solutions.<\/p>\n

A Framework For Implementation<\/b><\/h3>\n

The Mastery Collaborative community has developed a shared language for talking about competency education in NYC with the\u00a0Framework for Mastery Implementation<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 school-wide systems, curriculum & classroom planning, facilitation, and communication. The framework will be useful to schools trying to understand the school-wide systems and classroom practices, so it is included in detail below.<\/p>\n

\n

If you are new to competency-based education, it\u2019s worth taking the time to watch the five videos at the MC website:<\/strong><\/p>\n